Category: Mobile

Lenovo launched the Moto C Plus in India earlier this month, and made it exclusively available on Flipkart at Rs. 6,999. Now, the Moto C Plus is listed with an exchange offer of up to Rs. 6,500, making it possible for the smartphone purchase to come down to as low as Rs. 499 (excluding the Rs. 100 pickup charge).

All the three Moto C Plus colour variants – Fine Gold, Pearl White, and Starry Black – are up for sale on Flipkart and are listed with the exchange offer. The exchange offer amount will vary depending on the smartphone you exchange it with. There’s also extra 5 percent off if you purchase the smartphone with an Axis Bank Buzz credit card. There’s also a partnership with Reliance Jio listed that gives about 30GB of additional 4G data to its customers.

As we mentioned, there is a Rs. 100 pickup charge (for your old phone), so even if you manage to get the maximum discount, the actual price you pay for the Moto C Plus will be Rs. 599. The iPhone SE gives a discount of Rs. 2,500, the iPhone 5s gives a discount of Rs. 4,050, the Nexus 6P gives a discount of Rs. 6,200, while the Vivo X6S Plus gives the maximum discount of Rs. 6,500.

Moto C Plus Specifications

The dual-SIM Moto C Plus runs on Android Nougat and sports a 5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) display. It is powered by a 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6737 quad-core Cortex-A53 SoC paired with 2GB of RAM. You also get 16GB of inbuilt storage, which is expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB).

The smartphone comes with an 8-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash f/2.2 aperture, 1.12 micron pixels, autofocus, 71-degree field of view and an LED flash. The Moto C Plus also gets a 2-megapixel front-facing camera similar to the Moto C. The smartphone houses a rapid-charging 4000mAh battery that is much larger than the 2350mAh battery inside the Moto C. The Moto C Plus measures 144×72.3×10 mm and weighs 162 grams. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM, and 4G VoLTE.

After launching the Holly 3 in October, Huawei Terminal brand Honor has launched the Holly 3+ smartphone in India. The latest smartphone from the company seems to be identical to its predecessor in pretty much every way, except for memory and storage – which get a bump here. The smartphone is priced at Rs. 12,999 (MOP) and is available across India through offline channels.

The Honor Holly 3+ is pretty much identical to the Honor Holly 3 when it comes to specifications. It sports the same plastic back panel as the Honor Holly 3 and is likely to be patterned as well.

The dual-SIM Honor Holly 3+ features a 5.5-inch HD (720×1280 pixels) display and is powered by a 1.2GHz Kirin 620 octa-core CPU. The major difference here is that the Holly 3+ comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage compared to the 2GB/ 16GB storage option for its predecessor. The storage can be expanded via a microSD card (up to 128GB). Notably, the latest model continues to run on EMUI 4.1 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow instead of Nougat.

Camera specifications seem to be identical as well with a 13-megapixel rear sensor and an 8-megapixel front camera for selfies, both coming with f/2.0 apertures. Interestingly, despite the ‘Plus’ tag with the new model, Huawei hasn’t bumped up the battery as one would generally expect. The Holly 3+ packs a similar 3100mAh battery that came along with the Holly 3. Sensors include accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, compass, and G-sensor.

Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE support, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Driect, Wi-Fi hotspot, Micro-USB, and Bluetooth v4.0. The Holly 3+ measures the same as its predecessor at 154×77.1×8.45mm and weighs 168 grams. As mentioned, the smartphone will be available through offline retailers, while the Holly 3 is available on Amazon India.

Chinese handset manufacturer Gionee will be launching its S10 smartphone with four cameras in India soon. Talking to Gadgets 360, a Gionee executive confirmed the news at MWC Shanghai, and added that the Gionee S10 will launch as the next A-series flagship in the country. The executive, however, couldn’t confirm the launch timeline for the Gionee S10 saying that the company is yet to finalise launch.

Another Gionee executive talking to us added that the company initially had plans to launch the Gionee S10 in India in next two months but this may change depending on the performance of the current A-series smartphone, the Gionee A1.

To recall, Chinese company unveiled the Virat Kohli Signature Edition of the Gionee A1 earlier this month.

For those unaware, Gionee launched its S10 smartphone in China back in May and it went on sale in the company’s homeland earlier this month. The smartphone was launched in three variants – regular S10, S10B, and S10C. The executives couldn’t confirm at this moment which of the three variants will eventually make it to India.

One of the biggest highlight features of the Gionee S10 is it sports four cameras – two at the back, and two at the front. The smartphone features a 16-megapixel sensor and an 8-megapixel sensor at the rear with 6P lens and f/1.8 aperture. At the front, it comes with a 20-megapixel sensor along with an 8-megapixel sensor. In China, the Gionee S10 was launched at CNY 2,599 (roughly Rs. 24,400).

Other specifications of the smartphone include a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) In-Cell display, and it is powered by a MediaTek Helio P25 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM. It comes 64GB of inbuilt storage, and packs a 3450mAh battery. The Gionee S10 runs Amigo 4.0 OS.

Chinese handset manufacturer Gionee will be launching its S10 smartphone with four cameras in India soon. Talking to Gadgets 360, a Gionee executive confirmed the news at MWC Shanghai, and added that the Gionee S10 will launch as the next A-series flagship in the country. The executive, however, couldn’t confirm the launch timeline for the Gionee S10 saying that the company is yet to finalise launch.

Another Gionee executive talking to us added that the company initially had plans to launch the Gionee S10 in India in next two months but this may change depending on the performance of the current A-series smartphone, the Gionee A1.

To recall, Chinese company unveiled the Virat Kohli Signature Edition of the Gionee A1 earlier this month.

For those unaware, Gionee launched its S10 smartphone in China back in May and it went on sale in the company’s homeland earlier this month. The smartphone was launched in three variants – regular S10, S10B, and S10C. The executives couldn’t confirm at this moment which of the three variants will eventually make it to India.

One of the biggest highlight features of the Gionee S10 is it sports four cameras – two at the back, and two at the front. The smartphone features a 16-megapixel sensor and an 8-megapixel sensor at the rear with 6P lens and f/1.8 aperture. At the front, it comes with a 20-megapixel sensor along with an 8-megapixel sensor. In China, the Gionee S10 was launched at CNY 2,599 (roughly Rs. 24,400).

Other specifications of the smartphone include a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) In-Cell display, and it is powered by a MediaTek Helio P25 SoC coupled with 6GB of RAM. It comes 64GB of inbuilt storage, and packs a 3450mAh battery. The Gionee S10 runs Amigo 4.0 OS.

Coming to the other two S10 variants, the Gionee S10B was launched at CNY 2,199 (roughly Rs. 20,700) while the Gionee S10C was priced at CNY 1,599 (roughly Rs. 15,000).

The Gionee S10B sports a dual camera setup with a 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors at the back while there’s just regular one camera at the front, a 16-megapixel sensor in this case.

The S10B also runs on Amigo 4.0, features a 5.5-inch full-HD display, and is powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. The Gionee S10B comes with 64GB of in-built storage. The smartphone houses a large 3700mAh battery.

The Gionee S10C is the cheapest among three and sports a single 16-megapixel sensor at the back as well as a 13-megapixel sensor at the front.

Just like the other two phones, the Gionee S10C runs Amigo 4.0 OS but sports a 5.2-inch HD display and is powered by a Snapdragon 427 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. The smartphone comes with 32GB of built-in storage and houses a 3100mAh battery.

Coming to the other two S10 variants, the Gionee S10B was launched at CNY 2,199 (roughly Rs. 20,700) while the Gionee S10C was priced at CNY 1,599 (roughly Rs. 15,000).

The Gionee S10B sports a dual camera setup with a 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors at the back while there’s just regular one camera at the front, a 16-megapixel sensor in this case.

The S10B also runs on Amigo 4.0, features a 5.5-inch full-HD display, and is powered by a MediaTek Helio P10 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. The Gionee S10B comes with 64GB of in-built storage. The smartphone houses a large 3700mAh battery.

The Gionee S10C is the cheapest among three and sports a single 16-megapixel sensor at the back as well as a 13-megapixel sensor at the front.

Just like the other two phones, the Gionee S10C runs Amigo 4.0 OS but sports a 5.2-inch HD display and is powered by a Snapdragon 427 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. The smartphone comes with 32GB of built-in storage and houses a 3100mAh battery.

The specification information comes from Weibo tipster Ice Universe, who cites South Korean media to claim that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will sport a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display with 2K resolution and 18.5:9 aspect ratio. It is tipped to be powered by the Exynos 8895 processor or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor depending on the regions.

There’s also expected to be a 6GB of RAM included, and another leak from website Osen claims that the smartphone will sport 64GB and 128GB of storage. Furthermore, Ice Universe tips that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will sport a dual 12-megapixel camera setup with OIS capabilities built-in. The smartphone may pack a 3300mAh battery, and will come with support for S Pen and DeX. Lastly, the tipster claims that the smartphone will come in Black, Blue, and Gold colour variants. This is in accordance with what has been leaked earlier about the device. The tip about two storage variants is new, and it will be an added bonus for users to make a choice from.

Past render leaks have also confirmed design details of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, and it is expected to sport the fingerprint scanner at the back, beside the dual camera setup. It is expected to sport an Infinity Display, and come with a glass back as well. As per a recent news report, the South Korean company might launch the smartphone in late September at a price tag of EUR 999 (roughly Rs. 72,100).

Lenovo’s Moto M, which was launched last year in India, has now according to user reports started receiving Android 7.0 Nougat update in the country. To recall, the Android 6.0 Marshmallow running Moto M smartphone was launched in two variants in India – the 32GB + 3GB model priced at Rs. 15,999, and the 64GB + 4GB version priced at Rs. 17,999.

The Android 7.0 Nougat update for Moto M, as per user reports, comes with a considerable size of around 1.5GB. Apart from the new version of Android, the update also brings along Duo video calling app to the smartphone.

While the other changes that come along with Android 7.0 Nougat should also be expected, the changelog doesn’t mention changes apart from the ones mentioned above. The Moto M’s Android 7.0 Nougat update rollout was first reported by FoneArena

The dual-SIM (Nano-SIM) Moto M – the first Moto smartphone with an all-metal body – sports a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) IPS display with 2.5D curved glass on top. The new Moto smartphone is powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core MediaTek Helio P15 processor.

In terms of optics, Moto M comes with a 16-megapixel rear camera with Phase-Detection Autofocus (PDAF), and at front, it features an 8-megapixel camera for selfies. The connectivity options offered by the smartphone include Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth v4.1, GPS/ A-GPS, 4G VoLTE (with support for Indian LTE bands), USB Type-C (USB 3.1), and a 3.5mm audio jack.

While Moto M was initially sold exclusively on Flipkart, the smartphone was recently made available for purchase offline as well and that too as the same price as its Web counterpart.

When OnePlus launched its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 5, a lot of the questions prior to the unveiling were finally answered. Yes, it has a dual rear camera setup. Yes, it comes with an 8GB RAM variant. However, the one thing the OnePlus failed to confirm was whether the smartphone is water resistant leading everyone to believe that it wasn’t. However, new reports now suggest that the OnePlus 5 has some amount of water resistance. Notably though, since the company has not officially announced this, it certainly doesn’t want you to put the OnePlus 5 near water, and damage from water will not be covered by warranty.

Fandroid cites multiple reports to claim the OnePlus 5 appears to be surviving dunk tests pretty well, but as we mentioned, readers to note the smartphone is not officially certified. Had the OnePlus 5 passed through certification then it would have received an IP rating, similar to the IP67 rating of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, or the IP68 rating of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. Fandroid speculates that the OnePlus 5 has an IP67-level of protection, but that the company (like Apple did with the iPhone 6s) chose not to publicly reveal this information.

Now, this doesn’t exactly mean that OnePlus 5 owners should take the apparent water resistance for granted. Most water resistant phones have a combination of adhesive and rubber seals around the phone to prevent water from seeping in. In a recent teardown of the OnePlus 5 by JerrRigEverything, the YouTuber found that the flagship has no such adhesive between the display and the frame, nor a rubber seal around the SIM tray. So, while it may survive the occasional glass of water, it’s still a risk best avoided altogether.

While there hasn’t been any water-related issues as of now, the flagship has been in the news recently for other reasons. Owners of the OnePlus 5 had earlier reported of “jelly scrolling effect” that creates a stretchy visual effect when scrolling, and OnePlus is now claiming that the effect is normal and not a cause for concern.

LG launched its G6+ smartphone and a 32GB variant of LG G6 earlier this month in South Korea. While the company didn’t announce the pricing and availability of the smartphones at the time, it has now made them available for purchase in the country. The LG G6+ has been priced by the company at KRW 957,000 (roughly Rs. 54,100) while the LG G6 32GB storage variant has been made available at KRW 819,500 (roughly Rs. 46,300).

Both LG G6 (32GB) and LG G6+ have been made available by the company through three carriers in the country from Friday. To recall, the new LG G6 variant comes with 32GB built-in storage and the new LG G6+ packs 128GB storage. While LG launched three different versions of G6 in different markets, some with wireless charging support and others without, the LG G6+ with 128GB inbuilt storage comes with all of those features into a single package.

In addition to 128GB inbuilt storage, LG G6+ will come packed with wireless charging support as well as high-fidelity quad-DAC feature in all markets. On the other hand, the LG G6 32GB variant comes with just half the inbuilt storage of the original, with no further specification enhancements.

While the specifications have been kept nearly the same, the company has introduced new colours with the freshly released models. The LG G6 32GB comes in a non-optical Terra Gold, non-optical Marine Blue, and an already available Mystic White model, while the LG G6+ has been made available in Optical Astro Black, Optical Marine Blue, and Optical Terra Gold.

In terms of features, both LG G6+ and LG G6 come with a 5.7-inch (1440×2880 pixels) QHD+ FullVision display with a taller-than-usual aspect ratio of 18:9. The smartphones are powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 821 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. In terms of optics, both smartphones come with a 13-megapixel primary rear camera and a 5-megapixel at front.

Scientists have developed an innovative firewall programme that can protect smartphones from malicious codes and security threats.

Earlier this year, researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel discovered a security vulnerability in the internal communications between Android cellphone components and a phone’s central processing unit (CPU).

They alerted Android developer Google and helped the company address the problem.

“Our technology doesn’t require device manufacturers to understand or modify any new code,” said Yossi Oren from BGU. “It’s a firewall that can be implemented as a tiny chip, or as an independent software module running on the CPU,” said Oren.

Some 400 million people change their phone’s components, such as touchscreens, chargers, and battery or sensor assemblies, which are all susceptible to significant security breaches and attacks.

These components, referred to as “field replaceable units (FRUs),” communicate with the phone CPU over simple interfaces with no authentication mechanisms or error detection capabilities.

A malicious vendor could add a compromised FRU to a phone, leaving it vulnerable to password and financial theft, fraud, malicious photo or video distribution, and unauthorised app downloads.

“This problem is especially acute in the Android market with many manufacturers that operate independently,” researchers said.

“There is no way for the phone itself to discover that it’s under this type of an attack. Our solution prevents a malicious or misconfigured FRU from compromising the code running on the CPU by checking all the incoming and outgoing communication,” said Omer Schwartz from BGU.

The research team uses machine learning algorithms to monitor the phones’ internal communications for anomalies that may indicate malicious code.

The software allowed them to identify and prevent hardware-generated data leaks and hacks. The researchers are seeking to further test the patent-pending technology with phone manufacturers.

American cyber-security firm FireEye, specifically its Mandiant unit, discovered a critical vulnerability in the Lenovo Vibe P1 smartphone last year that allowed hackers to gain root access to the smartphone. The company informed Lenovo about it soon after, and now a security fix has finally been rolled out to compatible phones.

Lenovo has acknowledged the vulnerability, and it notes that the flaw “allows the user or an attacker with physical possession of a device that is not protected with a secure lock screen, e.g. PIN/ Password, to elevate privileges to the root user (commonly known as ‘rooting’ or ‘jailbreaking’ a device) with the ability to modify the device’s operation and functionality in myriad ways.” The fix has been rolled out to a subset of Lenovo Vibe phones, and it is recommended to be installed immediately, specifically on smartphones running on versions earlier than Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The Chinese consumer electronics giant has also noted some mitigation strategies for users with older Android versions, and this includes disabling the Android Debug Bridge option from the Android Developer Options menu on the smartphone. They’ve also urged these users to enable lock screen authentication mechanisms like a PIN or password protection.

If you own a Lenovo Vibe phone, check for an update by heading to Settings > About Phone > System updates. All the affected devices are listed here. There are also a number of listed phones that don’t have any software fix, and they are forced to only resort to mitigation strategies listed above.

For this exploit to work, physical access to the device is necessary, therefore you may not see the exploit “in the wild”. However, as privacy is paramount, it is recommended to update compatible devices to the most recent software package or protect their devices using strong lock screen settings.

When one hears of a smartphone exploding, the first thought that occurs to us is of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 – a fact that’s telling of just how much the product recall and its aftermath pervaded both daily life and popular culture. Now, a new isolated incident has come to light involving a smartphone by HTC. Earlier this week, a woman on Facebook announced that her HTC Desire 10 Pro exploded, burning her fingers. HTC says it’s investigating the customer’s report.

Making the claim in a Facebook photo earlier this week showing a bandaged hand, Nidhi Kapoor said her ‘HTC 10’ exploded on June 21. She added that the smartphone was not on call or charging when it exploded.

Gadgets 360 contacted HTC for comment, and were provided the following statement, “HTC is aware of the customer’s report and we are working to investigate as quickly as possible. As always, our customers’ safety is a top priority.”

The Taiwanese smartphone maker also clarified that the smartphone in question was in fact an HTC Desire 10 Pro – not an HTC 10 as Kapoor wrote – and that the incident occurred outside of India.

Kapoor in her Facebook post goes on to say that HTC didn’t provide her with a satisfactory response in the time between the incident and the revelation, alleging the company repeatedly asked for her email ID and the smartphone’s IMEI number. Let’s wait and see how this case unfolds.

The HTC Desire Pro was unveiled in September last year, and made its way to India in November.

The devices we carry around in our pockets and hold to the side of our faces are not immune to mishaps, and some of these can be disastrous. Smartphones (and pretty much most modern portable electronics) bear lithium-ion batteries, which, if improperly handled, can catch fire and even explode. There’ve been numerous cases in the past, and as we mentioned, Samsung was caught in the headlines this past year thanks to the Galaxy Note 7’s explosive battery.